City Council - Regular Meeting

Sure. I'll just ask one basic question. What are we going to do with the extra money we get? Where is that money going to go?

So we see the... And when I start putting numbers, dollars, to gallons and what the usage is, I'm lost. So $165, is that about what we pay per whatever?

So I want to make sure that I understand this correctly and that kind of the folks at home understand it. this is a progressive fee schedule correct so the first gallon all the way up to the last gallon of tier one is charged at that dollar 65 per unit that from the first gallon to the last gallon of tier two is going to be charged at the 173. it's not as soon as you hit tier four all of the previous gallons that you've taken out are not going to be charged that higher rate correct that is absolutely correct it is only the amount that you are using within that tier that is going to be charged

Jay? I never checked my last bill. Shocker, I know. But are these rates out there so people can begin to see them before we even adopt it?

It would be kind of nice if they saw it before we actually made a decision. So if there was something that they had,

because that was where I was heading. The last thing I want to do, full disclosure, I'm not a big fan, but I think that people need to see what they're gonna be hit with before they're hit with it.

I think I'd appreciate that preemptive information. I know that I've really enjoyed utilizing the AquaHawk app to learn and figure out how to lower my own water usage. And so I know if people have the ability to do things, for instance, we've been able to do, which was change the sprinkler heads, reduce water usage by one minute to change the amount. that it affected tiers, changed the timing, and removed just a small amount of turf in our yard, that if people had time to do that and to educate themselves, that would be really helpful.

Yeah, I would agree. Water conservation is important, and everybody should try. And I believe people aren't built to just waste. I think most people look at it and say, what can I do better in conserving water? But that said, we're 3% of the whole Deschutes County. Our city is about 3%. We're just talking about billing our people for not very much of the aquifer, if you will. So that's kind of where I'm at. All right.

I do have just a couple questions. So we've gone through these presentations for quite a while. And I appreciate all of the work and the dedication and the math that has gone into this. I guess for the folks who are kind of coming to this for the first time, or who are going to be looking back on this when they get their bill, we know that water conservation, we know that let's do a little whiskeys for drinking waters for fighting, right? That's always kind of the old cliche. My question had, have you looked at, and can you speak to us as to why you're recommending this option to encourage con

So we're encouraging conservation without Penalizing people for the kind of the basic necessity of water that they need to use.

Of course, that would be what I would like to see. I'd like to see people see actually what the difference would be.

Do we also have the capacity, could we do an informational letter to the two kind of the households that said basically for your trailing 12 months, this is kind of what the impact is gonna be so that they can actually see it laid out for a full 12 months on a single piece of paper in front of them or is that?

I think it would be good. It's one thing to kind of see it in your bill, and you're like, oh, I'm going to have to deal with that. And then you pay the bill, and then you put it down, and it gets buried under something else, and they never see it. But I think if you have a single piece of paper that says, for the year, this is what it's going to be month after month after month, it might light a fire under something else.

So for clarification. Yeah. the numbers that you showed, you said that came through the portal, do those include or is it separate, the calls that we received and then we forwarded to the number that was provided to us? So is that number all encompassing of both of those?

Catherine. Two questions. When you say the commitment to restoration and you talk about the flyers saying when they'll be back, one, is that going to proactively address the things that we know were damaged? For instance, we know someone's rose bush was dug up and then put back in. inappropriately or their driveway has been cut. Will there be a note section that says we are returning on this date to fix these items and here is a hotline phone number to call if something else is identified?

I guess my question is a little more basic. I'm kind of struggling to... The slides are very impressive. The door hangers, all of the outreach, all of that stuff seems wonderful. Why was that not done before? So we are here today. Like we shouldn't have to be here today. We're here because we got feedback, the city staff got feedback that there were some real frustrations. And I guess my concern, it sounds like we've got, third party construction crews onsite doing this stuff. So this cannot conceivably be the first city that you've installed these utility lines in. So why are,

So can we get your commitment, I guess, that you're going to make kind of the citizens who've already been impacted as well as any mitigation that needs to be done in the future, you're going to make folks whole?

I have one, a basic one, probably pretty simple for you. We're putting a roundabout in on 19th, UMA, one lane, and then it's going to be $3 million. covered by SDCs and then a little while later, who knows how long that is. We're going to spend another three million dollars to put another lane in there. Would it be cheaper just to build it in two lanes and then charge back to the developers when they build?

I move to have a first and second reading of ordinance number 2026-09 by title only.

I move to approve ordinance number 2026-9. Second.

I move to approve ordinance number 2026 dash 10 Second wouldn't second now.

I think that it made sense six years ago to say we want to pause, we want to collect more data, we want to see what psilocybin actually does, what effect it has on the community. I continue to hear from veterans and folks who struggle with PTSD that this is a tool that if properly used under medical supervision, which these service centers do, that it is beneficial and helpful to them. And I don't think it is in the city's best interest to just simply rubber stamp this moving forward for yet another two-year ban without having some kind of discussion or bringing up some kind of expert's pro an

I move to approve resolution 2026-15. I second.

How does it affect our ability to be competitive in attracting businesses if we do not have an enterprise zone?

Yeah, I just want to make a quick comment on my vote for the SIL assignment. I don't know how I feel about it, but I would like to hear more discussion. I would like to hear more data from experts on it. And I do think that it is, considering the amount of attention that we paid to dispensaries before we did put that out, I would like to see a little bit more attention to see this. And I don't dispute anybody's like or dislike of it. I just want to learn more about it so that we can make an educated decision.